Ash's Love Triangle
by EmpoleonDream
Summary: Ash, Dawn, and Brock travel across Sinnoh my way. Rated T to be safe. Pearlshipping, Advanceshipping, Pokemon. On HIATUS until further notice. Please check out my newest fanfic coming soon.
1. Chapter 1: Wishing Dreams

**Author's Comments: Note that I am new to writing fanfics. If you can think of a way to make my story better please review and tell me. Also I try to model my stories off of others, so sorry if this seems a bit familiar to you.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own pokemon or its franchise. This is completely fan-made and has nothing to do with the actual show. **

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Ash walked down the hall after his appeal round in the Hearthome contest. 'I think Pikachu and I nailed it. Now we just wait and hope to make it through' As he walked down the hall, he saw Dawn running in the opposite way. They passed each other high fiving and exchanging amused looks. Dawn ran ran past him only to get pulled back as a hand grabbed her wrist. She turned around and was suddenly being cradled in Ash's arms. "Ash..." he leaned in to kiss her and --

"ASH! WAKE UP!". The raven haired boy looked up into the face of his blue-haired friend and traveling companion. "Dawn..." she stood up and eased her way out of his messy tent leaving behind a whisper of her voice.

Ash started to go back to sleep when the scent of Brock's breakfast hit his nostrils. He changed as fast as he could, jammed his hat onto his crows nest of hair, and bolted out the tent. He sat down next to Dawn and started bolting down his breakfast while Dawn and his brown haired and much more mature friend looked at him with an amused expression. "What?" Both of them looked away.

Ash looked down and saw one of his best friends. A yellow mouse-like pokemon called Pikachu. It was happily munching down on the pokemon food Brock gave him. When they were done they packed up their tents and headed off once again to their unpredictable adventures.

Walking down the forest path Dawn threw a red and white ball into the air yelling, "Come on out Piplup!" A flash of red lighting made the forest an eerie mahogany color, and then it ended as quickly as it started and the only thing left of that moment was a blue penguin-type pokemon. "Piplup!" it chirped. Pikachu and Piplup ran off to explore the area.

'Why did I have that dream again? What's wrong with me? I never felt like this around Misty or May. I mean I felt something for May, but she ran off to be with Drew. What's happening?' Ash thought. He looked up at Dawn and saw how the light reflected off of her and how her vest and miniskirt hugged her body outlining her curves. He looked away blushing furiously.

This went unnoticed by Dawn, but Brock did. 'I guess it happened again. So Ash likes Dawn now? Hmm, I'm going to have to ask him about this later.' As they traveled on the light began to dim and night was quickly approaching.

After they set up camp in an empty clearing, Dawn decided to go off and explore while Brock was making dinner for the three of them. "Hey Ash, dinners almost ready. Can you go and find Dawn?" "Sure, no problem." He went off to search and found her sitting in a clearing with her feet dangling off the side of the riverbank. Ash started to say something but froze, noticing the way the moonlight bounced off her skin and made her hair, now hanging down instead of her usual fashion, sparkle.

Dawn turned around to see what had made the noise and saw Ash standing there with red streaks across his nose. He suddenly said, "Dinners ready, come on." and quickly walked away. 'What's wrong with him?' thought Dawn as she slowly got up and followed him back to camp.

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**Sorry that this chapter is so short. I know they haven't even reached Hearthome city, but it was Ash's dream. He can dream whatever he wants.**

**P.S. I'll try to make the chapters longer as they progress. Also, chapters may be added faster at first but this will be updated slowly in the future. Review.**


	2. Chapter 2: A Rival and Pokemon

**Author's Comments: Wow. I got this one up fast. I had it written in my notebook already, but I had to wait two days until I could post my story. Anyways, this one is a bit longer. Hope this is better than my first chapter. Btw, thanks WalloniaEagle for the helpful tip. This chapter is dedicated to you.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own pokemon or its franchise. This is completely fan-made and has nothing to do with the actual show. **

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The next morning, Dawn yawned stretching her arms. She got dressed and headed for the small lake about half a mile away. She looked around before quickly getting undressed and slipping into the warm, morning water.

Ash woke up with a start. He had the same dream again. He shook himself awake and decided to go look for some new pokemon. Traveling down a little worn path, he and Pikachu searched around for any new pokemon. Suddenly he heard a splash and a girly giggle. He quietly moved through the bushes and saw a girl swimming in the middle of a lake. Then it hit him like a brick in the face. It was Dawn! He backed out quietly not wanting to alert her to his presense and continued on his search for pokemon.

After about fifteen minutes she quickly got out, toweled off and got dressed. On her way back to camp she heard loud explosions. She ran in the direction of the explosions and found Ash locked in a battle with a purple-haired trainer they all knew. Paul.

"Starly use Ariel-Ace!" Ash cried out. The grey bird-like pokemon swooped down suddenly and shot forward at its opponent.

"Ursaring, return." Paul said in his usual icy tone. "Pathetic!" I'll see you next time, loser!" and ran off. Ash recalled Starly and turned around only to bump right into Dawn.

"Hey Ash. Nice battle."

"Hey Dawn. How did you find me?"

"The explosions kinda gave it away." replied Dawn in a bemused voice.

Ash looked away, embbaressment written all over his face in red. "Come on Dawn, I bet Brock's up by now." They ran all the way back to camp to find Brock already cooking breakfast.

"So where were you two so early in the morning?" Brock asked in a smug tone. Both of them blushed and told him what had happened between Ash and Paul.

Later, the trio are well on their way. "Oreburg City is just up ahead. We should reach it by this evening." said Brock , looking at a map.

"That's great! Now I can finally challenge the Oreburg gym leader and get my first badge!" Ash cried out before running ahead.

By the time the other two had caught up to Ash they were all tired, starved, and worst of all lost.

"Ash Ketchum! What is your problem!?"

"Sorry Dawn, I guess I got a little carried away. Hey, don't worry! I'll get us out of here!"

"Like that will ever happen." mumbled Brock under his breath as he got out his cooking tools. While Brock was getting the place set up for lunch Ash, Dawn, and Pikachu went out to look for firewood.

As Ash and Pikachu were crawling under a bush for some dry sticks they heard the bush ahead of the shake. They looked up and saw a small bluish pokemon that looked somewhat like a fox. "Oh, wow! A riolu! Let's try and catch it Pikachu." "Pika pi!"

Ash crawled his way up to Riolu, then jumped up and cried, "Pikachu use thunderbolt!" Electricity flowed up through the tiny mouse pokemon and into its cheeks. Electricity enveloped Pikachu, when it released it straight at Riolu. It was a direct as Riolu flew back several feet.

"Ha, now's my chance." He grabbed a pokeball from his pokebelt and threw it at Riolu. There was a beam of bright red light and Riolu dissappeared into the pokeball. Ash watched watched hopefully as the ball twitched left and right blinking furiously. Then a Ding! was heard. "Alright! I caught a Riolu!" Ash cried out in his signature pose.

Ash and Pikachu raced back to camp to find that Dawn was already back and a some ramen was cooking in a pot above a blazing fire.

"Where were you Ash? We were about to send a search party to find you."

"Sorry." he said sheepishly. "You guys, I'd like you to meet the newest member of our team." Ash threw the pokeball up and Riolu popped out. "Riolu!" it cried and started looking around with a confused look on it's face.

"Aww, it's so cute!" Dawn chirped in delight. As Riolu met the rest of the pokemon, the trio sat down to eat. Ash told them all about how he saw Riolu and captured it (making it a bit more interesting and exiting than it really was).

The three of them decided that they would stay there for the rest of the day, getting up early to get a fresh start the next day.

As Dawn lay in her tent that night she heard a noise coming from Ash's tent. She peeked out, and seeing him going off into the forest, she quietly followed. She found Ash sitting on the bank of a river looking up into the stars. "Oh Ash..."

Ash whipped his head around when he heard a sound behind him. Dawn sunk back into the shadows of the forest hoping he didn't see her. He didn't. He looked back up at the stars and thought about Dawn.

'Why is this happening to me? I didn't want to get emotionally involved again like I did with May. All she did was break my heart when she stopped traveling with me and went after Drew. I wonder what Dawn would think about this if I told her how I feel about her. She would probably desert me too. It seems like everybody seems to be deserting me. First Misty, then May. Will Dawn leave me too?' He sat there some more and thought about these questions that were floating around in his mind.

Dawn watched him from the shadows of the forest with a worried look on her face and mixed up emotions bombarding her from the inside.

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**Sorry, I forgot to get this up. I bumped up their ages. So they are:**

**Ash: 17**

**Brock: 22**

**Dawn: 15**

**Paul: 16**

**Misty: 17**

**May: 16**

**P.S. I'm changing the story-line a bit, having Ash, Dawn, and Brock gain new pokemon they don't have in the anime. **

**Till next time. C Ya!**


	3. Chapter 3: A few Unexpected Surprises

**Hey guys. I was really bored today and I already had half of this chapter written out, so I finished it up. I hope this is longer than the last two chapters. I'm going to try and make them longer. **

**BTW, if you haven't figured it out, this is a Pearlshipping fanfic with a bit of Advanceshipping to make it interesting.**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own pokemon or its franchise. This is completely fan-made and has nothing to do with the actual show.  
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"Riolu, use Aura Sphere!" Ash's cry was heard through out the forest. Riolu held his arm back storing energy in it. A small blue sphere-like spark flashed in its hand before disappearing. Riolu looked down at the ground in disappointment. "Ri, lu." he whispered in a depressed voice. He had been trying to use Aura Sphere for several weeks now, but to no avail.

"Hey, it's ok Riolu. You almost had it. I'm sure you'll get it next time." Ash and Riolu headed back to camp, finding that Pikachu was still sleeping in Ash's tent. He was wiped out from yesterdays battle. Ash had met a young aspiring trainer named Lucas on his way to Oreburg City.

It had been a one on one battle, Ash's Pikachu against Lucas' Staravia. Even though Pikachu won it was a grueling battle. Staravia was quick, Pikachu taking blow after blow before getting Thunder in at the last minute.

"Hey Ash!" Dawn yelled before running over to him.

"Hey Dawn. What's up?" Ash inquired as he saw she was looking tired.

"Um... I kinda wanted to ask you if you would help me out." Dawn said in a shy tone, her nose and cheeks getting pink.

"With what?"

"Well, I've kinda been trying to... um... catch a pokemon." said Dawn whispering out the last part. "I've been running around after it but, I can't seem to catch it."

"Oh, which pokemon is it?"

"It's a, well, the Pokedex says it's a Mantyke." Dawn whispered, embaressment clear on her face. "When I saw it, I thought 'Oh my god! It's soooo cute!', but when I tried to battle it, he kept diving underwater."

"Don't worry Dawn, just stay right here." Ash yelled as he ran off. 'Now where did she find that Mantyke. Hey, there seems to be a lake over there.' Ash ran over to the lake, Riolu running right behind him. They reached the waterfront, the morning sun reflecting off the calm waters and the image of an underwater forest being reflected back to the trees around Ash and Riolu, everything seeming so surreal.

"Mantyke!" a small bluish manta-ray looking pokemon cried out as it broke the surface of the water.

'Alright, this is for Dawn.' "Riolu, use Aura Shpere. I know you can do it!" Riolu saw the confidence in his trainers eyes, confidence that spurred his own confidence. He pulled his arm back, storing all his energy and emotions and love for his trainer into it. A small blue orb appeared in his hand. It grew larger until, Swish!, he snapped his arm forward at the Mantyke staring at him from the water. The aura sphere shot forward at Mantyke, hitting its mark. "You did it Riolu! Now jump on top of Mantyke and use Force Palm."

"Riolu!" he cried in joy as he jumped across the water onto Mantykes back. Pressing his palm against Mantyke's back, he forced all his energy outwards. He was sent flying into the air from the sheer power of his own attack.

Ash caught Riolu in his arms as Mantyke flew onto the land. He grabbed a pokeball from his pocket and threw it at Mantyke. Mantyke disappeared into the red and white ball in a flash of red lighting.

"Ash, what happened? Why did you run off like that. I thought you were going to help me!" Dawn yelled at him, and annoyed look on his face.

Ash was about to say something when Brock crawled out of his tent.

"Whats with all the noise?" he asked, sleepiness obvious in his voice.

"Well, I was about to say something to Dawn, but since she's so grumpy I think I'll wait." Ash said before Dawn even got a chance to open her mouth.

"Fine, just keep it down. I'm still tired." Brock said to the both of them before crawling back into his tent.

"What's wrong with Brock? It's almost 11:00 am. That's really unusual for him." Dawn asked Ash. He just turned away with a Humph! and decided to check up on Pikachu. Ash peeked into his tent only to find it empty.

"Hey Dawn, have you seen Pikachu? He was still sleeping last time I checked."

"Oh, so now you're talking to me? Well, to be honest I didn't notice. I guess he went out looking for you, I was lost in my thoughts until I saw you coming back."

"Oh, what were you thinking about?" Ash asked with a grin on his face.

"Nothing much" she lied, for Ash had caught her off-guard. In fact she had just been thinking about him, trying to sort out her feelings. She didn't know how she was supposed to feel about him. She always felt different around him than she did around Brock. She knew Ash would always be there for her, but she didn't know if he would stay if she told him ho she felt.

Brock had once told her about May. He had said that Ash had feelings for her, and probably still did. She didn't want to jeopardize her friendship with Ash just because of her feelings. She thought it would be better to have Ash as a friend than not have Ash there at all.

All of these things flowed through Dawn's mind in that one instant she had lied to Ash. She bit down her lip and looked away hoping Ash, being who he is, wouldn't notice her blushing. But Ash did. He saw her bite her lip and look away.

"Look, I'm sorry Dawn."

"About what?" she asked surprised at Ash's reaction.

"I've been a real jerk these past few minutes. I actually came here to tell you that I... um. Well, I know it's your birthday in a few weeks and... well, just... happy birthday." he said handing her the pokeball containing the Mantyke. He quickly got up and went off to search for Pikachu.

Dawn looked down at the pokeball. 'He didn't. He couldn't have. It's not like Ash.' She threw the pokeball in the air and out popped Mantyke. There was a ribbon wrapped around its belly with a card. Dawn laughed a joyful yet emotional laugh with tears of joy welling up in her eyes. She took off the ribbon and read the card.

**I knew you were upset that you couldn't catch that Mantyke so here,**

**Happy Early Birthday.**

**From Ash.**

She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't believe that Ash went through all that trouble just to get her this Mantyke.

"Mantyke!" the Mantyke cried out cheerfully before jumping on Dawn, giving her a huge hug. Dawn thought about Ash as she played with her new Mantyke, this present fueling her love for him even more. 'Wait! I didn't just say love right! Oh no, what am I going to do?' Dawn thought.

'I hope Dawn likes her present' Ash thought as he and Riolu walked around looking for Pikachu.

"Pika!" Ash snapped his head around at the sound of his best friends cry. He saw Pikachu running to him along the path.

"Pikachu!" he dried out as Pikachu jumped into his arms. "Where have you been little buddy? I was worried about you"

"Pika, pika pi pikachu!" Pikachu said. He had said, "I was looking for you!" even though Ash didn't understand him. Ash, Pikachu, and Riolu raced back to camp laughing all the way there.

Dawn saw Ash running back with Pikachu and Riolu and her face lit up. She stood up from in front of Mantyke and Piplup, as she was just introducing Mantyke to Piplup, and ran to Ash. She ran right into him enveloping him in a loving hug before she could change her mind. Ash stopped dead in his tracks as he looked down to see that wonderful, shiny haired girl clinging to his chest.

"Thank you Ash" she whispered. Ash wrapped his arms around Dawn and they stood like that for, what seemed to Ash, like an eternity. He just stood there, blushing up a storm.

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**I don't like to compliment myself, but I think I did a really good job with this chapter. There was a lot of pearlshipping in this one. There will be a few unexpected twists in the upcoming chapters.**

**P.S. I'm also known as EmpoleonDream (such a big shock! :p ) on forums. If you ever want to talk about pearshipping come and join PKLegendHeroe's pearlshipping thread at:**

**.?t=348163**

**Till next time. C ya!**


	4. Chapter 4: A Battle With Roark

**Author's Comments: Hey guys. I couldn't sleep tonight and was extremely bored. There was nothing to watch on tv, so I decided to post another chapter for my story. Hope you guys like it. **

**P.S. There isn't a lot of Pearlshipping in this one. Its mostly just battles. I tried to make the battles as close to the real thing as possible. Enjoy and Review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon or its franchise. This is purely fan-made and has nothing to do with the show. (Well it does since it's based on the show, but you get what I'm saying)**

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**Welcome to Oreburg City! **said the sign.

Ash, Dawn, and Brock finally arrived at Oreburg city. Along with them are Pikachu sitting on Ash's shoulder, Riolu walking beside Ash, Starly resting in its pokeball, Piplup being carried in Dawn's arms, Mantyke sitting comfortably in its pokeball, and the newest addition... Croagunk! It was sitting in its pokeball, chilling out.

Brock had been out on a walk by himself when he saw a pokemon following him. He turned around and found a Croagunk following him. He let it follow him, but after a few days it was apparent it wanted to follow Brock. So he asked it to be his pokemon and caught it!

Now the trio walked into town and headed for the Pokemon Center. As soon as they walked through the door Brock was already holding Nurse Joy's hand.

"Nurse Joy, your beauty shines through the dark night sky! Your eyes burn with passion and so does my heart! Please, allow me to take you out on a ~. Ahhh!" Brock yelled out and fell to the floor as Croagunk popped out of its pokeball and used Poison Jab on Brock. Croagunk pulled him away by the leg as he croaked in amusement.

Ash and Dawn stood there with a bemused but annoyed look on their face. They had seen Brock do this many times before, and every time it always ended up like this.

"Hello Nurse Joy! Could you heal our pokemon for us?" Ash asked as he recalled Riolu and handed her his pokeballs. Dawn did the same, and before you could say Pokemon! Brock was there handing his pokeball over too.

"Certainly!" Nurse Joy said in her usual perky tone. As soon as they got their pokemon back they headed to check out the Oreburg Gym. As they stepped inside they noticed someone they didn't really want to see. Paul.

"Well well well. If it isn't Ketchum and his band of losers. I doubt you can beat Roark. So I wouldn't even try. If you do, then you'll have to wait in line. I'm up first!" Paul said and walked into the gym.

The trio followed in to see Paul's match. He won, but pushed his pokemon to near death as usual. It was Elekid vs. Geodude, Chimchar vs. Onix, and Grotle vs. Cranidos. As he exited the gym Ash caught up to him.

"Aren't you even going to heal your pokemon after that battle!" he asked Paul.

Paul just said one word and walked away. "No"

The next day after Roark's pokemon were well rested Ash went in to challenge him.

"Roark, I challenge you to a gym battle!" he cried out as he entered the gym.

"Hey, you're that kid from yesterday who was watching from the sidelines. This isn't going to be an easy match." said Roark as he walked up to Ash.

"I never like it easy." Ash remarked and headed to his side of the battle field.

Ash looked over at the sidelines and nearly passed out when he saw Dawn. She was wearing a tight pink cheerleading outfit. A pink top that showed all her curves, a pink mini-skirt that hid almost nothing, and a pair of pink pom-poms. Ash looked over to Brock only to see him smirking at him 'He knows.' Ash thought.

"Go-go Ash, you're the man! If you can't beat him no one can!" Dawn started cheering. However all it did was make Ash blush furiously and look back at Roark, who was smirking at him too.

"I see you've got your own posse and cheering squad." said Roark. Looking back Ash saw that Piplup was dressed in a similar attire as Dawn.

"Well after that I can't lose!" he cried out, still blushing like crazy as he saw her jump around. Looking back towards Roark he said, "Let's get started."

"This will be a three on three match. The challenger is allowed to swap out pokemon at any time, while the gym leader is not. Challengers, choose your pokemon." the referee declared.

'I've gotta save Riolu for Cranidos. Let's see. He might start out with Geodude or Onix. Fine, I'll go with Pikachu first.' Ash thought. "Pikachu, I choose you!" the little mouse pokemon ran out onto the field.

"Bad choice. Go, Onix!" Roark cried out as a giant pokemon came out. It looked like a giant snake made of stone.

"Let the match begin!" the ref said blowing his whistle.

"Go Pikachu. Use agility to confuse Onix, then use quick attack." Pikachu started running so fast it looked like there were ten of them. Suddenly one of them charged straight at Onix.

"Onix, use dig." Roark said in a cool manner. The giant rock-snake slid underground. Pikachu stopped and looked around.

"Pikachu, jump now!" Ash ordered Pikachu as he saw the ground bulge right under Pikachu. Pikachu jumped into the air, Onix bursting out of the ground as soon as Pikachu's feet left the ground. "Now Pikachu, use spin and use Iron Tail right in between Onix's eyes. Hit him as many times as you can."

Pikachu obeyed his master and did just that sending Onix crashing to the ground. "Now Pikachu, jump on to Onix's nose and use Thunder!" Ash cried out. Pikachu landed on Onix's nose and holding on tight used one of its most powerful attacks. Electricity flowed through Onix's body. Even though he had type advantage, he was getting hit directly on his head. Onix writhed on the ground before collapsing to the floor.

"Onix is unable to battle. Pikachu is the winner." the ref declared.

"Pika, pika pi!" Pikachu cried out jumping into Ash's arms.

"Pikachu, take a nice long rest, you did great." Pikachu jumped behind Ash and lay down.

"You're pretty good. Not many people have gotten past my Onix. But now you're in for a real battle. Go, Geodude!" Roark said as he threw a pokeball into the air and out popped Geodude. Geodude looked like a giant boulder with arms and a face.

"Go Ash! You can do it.!" Dawn cried out again. Ash looked over at her and immediately regretted it. He became all flustered and a blush came back over his face. "Go, Starly!" he said sending out his bird pokemon.

"Starly!" he cried out as he circled the room.

"Let the second battle begin" the ref called blowing his whistle.

"Starly, use Ariel Ace!" Starly flew up high and suddenly swooped down with blinding speed. It was a direct hit sending Geodude flying into the rocks.

"Geodude, use rollout!" Geodude tucked in its arms and began rolling around the floor. Suddenly it rolled up a rock and flew through the air right at Starly.

"Starly, drop down. Then use Quick Attack followed by Ariel Ace!" Starly swooped down barely escaping from getting hit by the rock type pokemon. The with amazing speed it flew straight at Geodude was falling back down and was defenseless. Geodude was sent flying across the room. Then using its speed from Quick Attack, it flew at Geodude once more with speed unseeable by the human eye. Geodude landed by its trainer's feet, its eyes in spirals.

"Geodude is unable to battle, Starly is the winner."

"I have to admit, you're really good. But will you be able to stand up to Cranidos?" said Roark.

"I have a few tricks up my sleeves as well." Ash remarked. Roark sent out his Cranidos.

"Go, Riolu!" Ash cried out as Riolu appeared on the field.

"Well, this is going to be an interesting battle." said Roark, amazement in his voice and a surprised look on his face.

"Let the battle begin!" the ref declared for the last time.

"Let's go Riolu, Brick Break!" Riolu jumped on top of Cranidos and smashed his glowing arm onto his head. Cranidos didn't even look like it had a scratch.

"Now, let's show em real power Cranidos. Zen Headbutt!" Cranidos's head began to glow blue and suddenly it ran at Riolu with amazing speed.

"Don't get so cocky." Ash remarked. "Stop that Zen Headbutt Riolu!" As soon as Cranidos reached Riolu, the little blue fox-like pokemon held out its hand right at Cranidos' head. Cranidos hit Riolu's arm. An explosion occurred kicking up dust.

When the dust settled, they all looked shocked. Cranidos had been thrown back into the wall behind Roark, while Riolu looked as though it had barely moved an inch.

"How is this possible!" Roark cried out in disbelief.

"I'll tell you," said Ash to everybody in the gym. "Riolu and I had a secret up our sleeves. Riolu, use Aura Sphere!" Riolu shot a blue orb at Cranidos sending it back into the wall it had just climbed out of. "Right when Cranidos' head collided with Riolu's arm I had it use Aura Shpere. This created a barrier between Riolu and Cranidos, neutralizing Cranidos' attack. Then Riolu used another Aura Sphere in quick succession. Riolu was able to do it so quickly and powerfully because of all the energy released when Zen Headbutt hit. Understand?"

"It's genius!" Roark said as he helped Cranidos back onto the field. "First neutralizing the attack, then using all the energy from it to power your own. You're one smart kid Ash. But now that we know how you did it, we won't fall for it twice. Cranidos, use Rock Head!"

Cranidos began to glow in a blue fire around him as he shot forwards at Riolu. Riolu used Aura Sphere again, but this time closed its eyes and used Aura to sense Cranidos. He noticed that the legs were flexed, ready to jump. He opened his eyes and shot the Aura Sphere straight above it. Cranidos jumped into the air at the same time as Riolu shot the Aura Sphere. It had no way to protect itself as the blue orb smashed into his unprotected belly. There was another explosion and the dust kicked up again.

What happened to the pokemon? Who won? Stay tuned to find out!

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**Muahahaha! After posting 4 chapters in quick succession I wanted to be evil so I made it a cliffhanger. The cliffhanger is not the best and its pretty predictable who won.**

**Man this chapter was long! Over 2000 words!**

**Anyways, in chapter 2 (or was it 3, I don't remember) when I said Dawn was 15 I meant that she would turn 15 in a couple of episodes. **

**P.S. I want you guys to vote in the reviews and tell me what you want to happen first, Advanceshipping or Pearlshipping. Its going to end with Pearlshipping but I want to know if you guys want Ash and Dawn to be together when May comes, or Ash and May to kinda flirt a little and go out for a few chapters before Ash and DAwn hook up. Vote Now! I will give you guys until the 6th chapter to vote.**

**I may put up chapter five tomorrow, I'm not sure.**

**Until next time. C Ya!**


	5. Chapter 5: Unexpected Confessions

**Author's Comments: Uhhhh... this one took a while. I tried to make it good. Pearlshippers will be surprised! Also, I want to thank Pokefan#493 of forums for reviewing this chapter. So uhhh... on with the story!**

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The dust settled as all the challengers and spectators leaned in closer to see what had happened. Riolu was still standing there although breathing heavily. Cranidos was standing a few feet away, his legs wobbling. Suddenly he collapsed to the ground.

"The winner is Riolu! The winner is the challenger, Ash from Pallet Town!" the ref called for the final time before walking out of the gym. Roark called Cranidos back into his pokeball before walking over to Ash.

"Here Ash, your pokemon are amazing. Especially your Riolu. I've never seen a Riolu that could use Aura Sphere. You must have trained hard for your Riolu to reach such high a level. So here, take this Coal Badge." Roark said holding out a shiny badge that looks kind of like a pokeball made of stone.

Ash took the badge and held it out in his signature pose. "Yeah, I got a... Coal Badge!" He jumped up and ran off the field, his pokemon right behind him. Ash ran out the door and smashed right into Dawn. She almost stumbled and fell before Ash grabbed her hand and pulled her back up.

"Hey! Watch where you're going next ti~. Oh, it's you Ash. Sorry about that. Great battle. Look I'm going to go change. See back at our room." she said before running away hoping that Ash wouldn't notice her blushing. Ash met up with Brock at the door of the pokemon center. They went inside and got a room for the night.

They opened the door and found out that it was a small room with a desk under the window, one bunk-bed, and one normal bed. Three beds in all. Ash put his stuff down in his regular spot. The worst bed, the one one underneath the top bunk. Dawn walked in wearing her normal clothes. Ash was so relieved. He didn't have to look away every time he saw Dawn.

'She sure looked hot in that thing. Stop it Ash! You're not a perv.' Ash thought as he lay down on his bed. He looked at his watch. They still had four hours before 10:00pm and none of them could sleep. They went around town checking out shops and cafes. They finally dragged themselves into their room and fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

......................................................................................................................................................................

Several days have gone by since Ash's battle. The trio were once again off on the road looking for new adventures. They had stopped early today because it was the day before Dawn's birthday. They set up their camp, tents, and "furniture" (which were just big logs lined up against the side of the fire like a bench). That night they ate in silence, looking up into the sky. After they finished, Ash volunteered to do the dishes. Brock and Dawn crawled in their respective tents.

As Ash finished up washing the dishes, he thought about Dawn. 'I still didn't give her a present. I know I said that Mantyke was her present, but I just did that because she was sad. I know!' he thought with a plan forming in his mind. Later that night when everyone else was sleeping, he quietly crawled out of his tent and went over to Dawn's. He didn't know how she would react, but hoped for the best.

He quietly slipped into her tent and looked down at her. Dawn had half woken up and could just barely see the silhouette of a man looking down at her. She started to get scared when the figure leaned closer and crouched down. Ash leaned in and brushed his lips against hers.

"Happy Birthday Dawn." he whispered and slipped out of the tent. Dawn slowly reached up and touched her lips. They tingled with a warm sensation. 'Who was that?' she thought as she lay back down and tried to sleep. The next morning was an almost usual one. When Dawn woke up she found Brock sitting in front of a fire cooking breakfast. When she looked down at her plate she found out that in her omelet were the words Happy Birthday in barely eligible words of sausage. She looked over at Ash's tent and her mood went down. It was gone.

"Where's Ash, Brock?" she asked, giving him a sad look. She jumped back in surprise at the dark scowl on the breeder's face.

"He left." he said. Plain and simple.

"Where?" she asked getting scared.

"I don't know." whispered Brock and crawled into his tent to pack up. Dawn got up and looked around the campsite for any sign of Ash, but only found three pair of footprints that faded away the further she got from camp. 'What happened to Ash? Why did he just leave?' she thought as she made her way back to camp.

Dawn and Brock packed up in silence. They made their way to their next destination. Eterna City. 'If Ash were here he would be dyeing to get there.' She stopped and looked down, depressed at the thoughts of Ash leaving her.

Ash was in fact, right behind them. He had tried to disappear in case Dawn knew it was him that night. But he was regretting his decision to leave the group, as life traveling alone was boring. He rubbed Pikachu, who was sitting on his shoulder.

"Cha!" he squealed in joy.

Ash took one last look at Dawn before running through a side path trying to beat them to Eterna City. As the day grew old, night replaced it. Ash watched through the bushes as Dawn set up her tent. Ash suddenly blushed furiously, getting flustered as Dawn's mini-skirt rode up her legs revealing the light blue panties she had on.

Dawn lay on her sleeping bag looking up at the stars as they appeared as if by magic.

'I wish Ash would come back. I wonder why he left? Arrgh! Thanks a lot Ash! Thanks for making my birthday the worst.' she looked up as she heard branches crack. She turned her head at the source of the sound. She suddenly jumped up and tackled the boy that was walking into their camp.

"Where were you Ash Ketchum! I was worried sick!" Dawn scolded the boy lying on the ground like a mother would scold a naughty child.

"Oh, you were worried for me huh?" Ash asked smirking. A slight pink blush appeared on her face. She stormed off to her tent and zipped up the zipper furiously.

"So it worked huh?" said the breeder coming out from behind the bushes. "Guess you know how Dawn feels about you now?"

"Still, I feel bad about making Dawn worry like that. Hey, I know. I'll give her this pokemon I caught along the way!" he walked over to Dawn's tent. He placed a pokeball with a note outside her door. "I love you too, Dawn." he whispered to himself and walked away, setting up his own tent.

The sunlight broke through the mesh window in Dawn's tent. She sat up and stretched. She slowly got dressed and opened up her tent. She looked down to see a pokeball with a note in it. She picked up the note and read it.

_Dawn,_

_I'm sorry that I upset you. I just wanted to know if you... what I'm trying to say is...look, I'm sorry Dawn. I hope you like the pokemon. If you forgive me, meet me in the woods today. Don't tell anyone._

_Love,_

_Ash_

Dawn looked down at the pokeball. She quickly pocketed it and ran into the woods.

"Ash? Where are you? Is this some kind of joke? Because if it is, then I'm leaving!" she called out, twisting her head every-which way looking for Ash.

"Pikaboo!" Ash cried as he leaped from behind a tree. "Come on, I want to show you something Dawn." he said, dragging her by the hand to a secluded area. Dawn looked around her.

"Amazing..." she whispered, looking around at the scenery. She looked back at Ash. He was watching her with an amused grin on his face.

"Dawn, there's something I need to tell you..." Ash whispered, shifting to stand closer to Dawn. He looked into her light blue eyes. They were soft and warm and gave you fuzzy feeling inside. "Dawn, I..."

* * *

**EVIL! Muahahahaha! Man, I'm on an evil streak. However, beware. Things aren't going to work out the way you think they are. Thank you "Gred Forge vs Marauder" for answering the poll. Because no one else answered the poll I have decided to have Ash and Dawn together before May shows up. Sorry Complete Hollow, this means that May will appear later.**

**P.S. I'm scared because Pokefan#493 wants to kill me for the cliffhanger. I just hope you guys don't try to kill me after reading chapter 6.**

**Until next time. C Ya!**


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